1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fish tanks and more particularly to a system for cleaning fish aquariums.
2. Description of the Related Art
Keeping fish in an aquarium is a popular hobby throughout the world. While documentation of people keeping fish for purposes other than food consumption can be traced back to the early Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese, the first glass aquariums were built in the mid 1800's. The popularity of the home aquarium makes the home aquarium hobby one of the most popular hobbies in the world and supports a large and still growing industry.
One complaint that many aquarium hobbyists have is that the aquarium must be cleaned on a regular basis to protect the aquatic life and to prevent objectionable odors that result from fish wastes, decayed food particles and bacteria that accumulate in the aquarium. Cleaning the aquarium is a time-consuming and dirty burden that is placed on the aquarium hobbyist. Cleaning the aquarium normally includes removing all the aquatic life, which is primarily the fish but may include plants, and other ornamentals and then vacuuming the aquarium gravel that serves as a filter to remove the objectionable material.
There have been many attempts to lessen this burden of cleaning the aquarium by making it simpler. One solution has been to develop a system for separating a fish section in a top portion of the aquarium from a waste section in the bottom of the aquarium by placing a screening material between the two sections. Such systems have developed gradually in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,811 issued to Huang, et al., discloses a gatherer to collect the solid impurities in the aquarium in a slot and a rotating helical brush that is provided to push the solid impurities into one end of the slot for removal.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,930 issued to Kirby, an automatic cleaning aquarium is disclosed having a top aquatic section and a bottom waste section separated by a grate-supported screen. The bottom waste section is formed with tapered walls that funnel to a flushing valve. Periodically, the flushing valve may be opened to flush waste from the waste section, and then fresh water may be added to the aquarium to replace the water flushed from the system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,054 issued to Allen, an undergravel filter is supported on a base having a sloped bottom surface in such a manner that wastes, trapped by the undergravel filter, fall to the bottom and are then moved by gravity to the lowest portion of the sloped bottom surface where an outlet flushing valve is located. The flushing valve may be opened to drain water from the aquarium and flush away the wastes that have accumulated.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,185 issued to Judy, a specially designed plastic housing is disclosed that fits into any standard fish tank. The plastic housing has sloped sides that terminate at their low spots with drain valves. The top of the plastic housing provides a separation between the area of the fish tank dedicated for the fish and the lower area having the sloped sides forming the waste removal system.
A problem still unsolved in the prior art is the inability of the flushing systems to flush waste material from the gravel bed, which serves as a filter in aquariums and traps large amounts of waste material. The traditional method of cleaning an aquarium by vacuuming the gravel bed, removes this waste material but stirs up the waste material in the process, putting some of the waste material back into the water. The prior art methods typically discard waste-containing water from the aquarium during the cleaning process, and this water has to be replaced with makeup water at an amount greater than that necessary to maintain an ideal mineral balance in the water. Adding more water than the ideal amount changes the chemical balance in the water and reduces the concentration of helpful bacteria in the water necessary to maintain a healthful environment for the fish. Furthermore, changing the water quality by large increments, as occurs when significant amounts of makeup water must be added, upsets the equilibrium within the tank and is harmful to the aquatic life.
A system that cleans an aquarium without requiring large amounts of flushing water to be removed and replaced with makeup water would be beneficial to the aquatic life in the aquarium. It would further be beneficial if the system removes waste materials from the gravel filters in the bottom of the aquarium.